Oedipus, Odysseus and the Return of Memory

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25187/codex.v7i1.22186

Keywords:

Odysseus’ scar, Erich Auerbach, Mimesis, Analogy, Comparative literature, Akedah, Childhood memory, Forgetfulness, Oedipus Rex, Repression, Jewish identity

Abstract

The analogy between Oedipus and Odysseus is striking and provides an intriguing case of intertextuality once their relationship is investigated through the fascinating links that the plot of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rexmaintains with the episode of the foot washing of the Odyssey, Book 19. I argue, that the Homeric Odysseus provided Sophocles with an inspiring model for imitation: A middle-aged man carries on his body a childhood scar of which he has been oblivious for many years. After many years of absence, a homecoming brings with it a return of memory: the traumatic scarification begins to surface. Oedipus’ and Odysseus’ scars bring home something that has collapsed into forgetfulness. Returning to Auerbach’s “Odysseus Scar” the article discusses the scar as a junction of forgetting and remembering and show how Odysseus’ memory and Oedipus’ forgetfulness are intertwined. 

Author Biography

Vered Lev Kenaan, University of Haifa

Lev Kenaan (Ph.D Yale University 1995) is professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of Haifa. Her book, Pandora's Senses: The Feminine Character of the Ancient Text(Wisconsin, 2008) interprets the myth of the first woman and shows how femininity is embedded in masculine and canonical texts. Her recent book, The Ancient Unconscious: Psychoanalysis and Classical Texts(Oxford, 2019) examines the central role of the notion of classical antiquity for the foundation of psychoanalysis. The book offers new interpretations of the Freudian unconscious.  The study of culture and myths is central for Lev Kenaan’s writing that deals with the relationship between psychoanalysis and literature, intertextuality and interpretation of dreams, textuality and gender.

References

Auerbach, E. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974.

Caruth, C. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.

Doherty, L. Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narratives in the Odyssey. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.

HOMER. Odyssey. Translated by James Huddleston, 2006. Electronic edition: http://digital.library.northwestern.edu/homer/.

LEV KENAAN, V. The Ancient Unconscious: Psychoanalysis and Classical Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Nagy, G. Greek Mythology and Poetics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.

PORTER, J. “Erich Auerbach and the Judaizing of Philology”. Classical Inquiry, 35.1, 2008, pp. 115-147.

Shahar, G. “Auerbach’s Scars: Judaism and the Question of Literature”. The Jewish Quarterly Review, 101, 2011, pp. 604-630.

SOPHOCLES. “Oedipus the King”. In: _______. vol. 1. With an English translation by F. Storr. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1912.

_______. Oedipus Rex. Commentaries by DAWE, R. D. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

Vernant, J.-P. “Oedipus without the Complex”. In: _______. & Vidal-Naquet, P. Myth and Tragedy in Ancient Greece. 2. ed. Translated by Janet Lloyd. New York: Zone Books, 1988, pp. 85-112.

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Published

2019-06-30

How to Cite

Lev Kenaan, V. (2019). Oedipus, Odysseus and the Return of Memory. CODEX - Revista De Estudos Clássicos, 7(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.25187/codex.v7i1.22186

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2019)

Section

Articles

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.